Previews

Arc the Lad: End of Darkness

Namco's got its hands on the latest Arc the Lad adventure, and it's a profoundly different new direction for the storied series.

Spiffy:

New gameplay seems more promising than might be expected; online added.

Iffy:

Game recycles locales from previous Arc adventure; humdrum story so far.

Following the success of Namco's RPG hits Xenosaga and Tales of Symphonia, it's clear that the company wants a bigger piece of the genre pie in the United States. But aside from those two series, the company isn't that well known for RPGs even in Japan. What's the solution? As with last year's Nightmare of Druaga dungeon hack, it's to grab someone else's game and publish it stateside. And what better to grab than a series that's already well known? Thanks to the success of Working Designs and Sony's translated entries in the series in the past, Arc the Lad: End of Darkness is a known quantity. Well, kind of.

"Kind of"? Yep. Because though End of Darkness continues directly on from the story of 2003's Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, it takes the series in an entirely new direction. Though the previous games in the series were so speedy and simple that hardcore grognards would scoff at calling them "strategy," that pretense has been completely dispensed with for End of Darkness. It's a full-on action/RPG.

In this game, you play as a young warrior named Edda who grew up on a peaceful island. Of course, being an RPG, things can't always stay peaceful for long. Edda has the power of an exorcist, handed down from his (sadly, deceased) parents. Using the mystical staff they left him, he vanquishes a legendary monster known as the Darmyst. Noticed by his elder, these powers lead Edda to a more important fate, though: he's asked to leave the island, so he can head to the outside world and use his powers for the greater good. There, he learns the Darmyst is a "malademon" -- your garden-variety evil entity -- and that they're lurking all around. Being a spunky young lad, he makes it his quest to destroy the malademons, and so embarks on a journey of discovery and demon-thwacking.

Now, in the world of Arc the Lad: End of Darkness (which is the same world as Twilight of the Spirits, and contains many of the same locations and characters) you can't simply fight battles because you want to. Edda must get certified as a hunter with the guild. This opens up the game to a new method of telling the tale: mission based. Instead of the linear, story-driven progression of previous games in the series, End of Darkness has a fully mission-based structure. You'll pick and choose which battles to fight, according to your rank. Once you've beaten enough battles, you'll level up, and then find a new story-based mission to complete.

New also to the game is a card system. Unlike the true card-based gameplay systems in Culdcept, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, or Baten Kaitos, the card system in End of Darkness is really one in name only. Cards can contain special attacks -- which function just like regular RPG spells. They can contain armor -- which you equip as normal. They can even contain allies, whom you can take onto the battlefields in place of (or in concert with) Edda.